Fog
by Chia Lee
Summary: After Fran loses Balthier in the fog, she finds him again, but all is not what it seems. AU-ish, Character death, 'dark' and 'horror'.


_A/N: There has been a lot of fog where I live lately and it's inspired me to write this. I hope this is 'horror' and 'dark'. If it isn't it would help if you could tell me how to improve. :) I love writing so... Anyway, I tried my best. Enjoy._

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><p>The fog is so very thick, she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. She kept on looking though, using her keen sense of hearing, listening for any, any signs of life. She had to find him. She couldn't lose him, not now, she didn't know what she'd do without him. Her heels crunched in the dirt. She couldn't smell him. All she could smell was death, horrible, potent death. She didn't know where she was, the fog obscured everything, she felt so alone in this endless mind-numbing abyss.<p>

She hadn't meant to lose him of course, everything was just so fast and confusing. One minute he was there, fighting along side her, the next fog had wrapped up around them and he was gone. Her partner, her friend… her lover. It was her fault wasn't it? How could she let this happen? No, he was stronger than this, where ever he was he was alive and she was going to find him. They wouldn't, couldn't lose each other now.

God, she was losing her mind in this mist, this fog. She was Fran, the level-headed viera, partner of Balthier. She was strong, beautiful and she was going to get through this. Or so she thought until she stood on something. The veira looked down but only saw the fog. She knelt down, and found blood, lots of blood on the ground. She almost threw up, the smell of death and decay got stronger and stronger. Fran took two more steps and stepped in something again. She didn't want to look down but she bit the bullet. Kneeling down she gasped at the sight that was before her. A hand, a hume hand. Mutilated and severed from the body it belonged too. A array of colourful rings littered the fingers of that hand. Fran felt sick with dread, there was only one person in the world with those rings. Fran took a deep breath, steeled herself and walked on slowly.

"Balthier?"

She whispered to the wind. Something was not right, not right at all. The viera began to lose hope. She wished this fog would go away, but it only seemed to get thicker and thicker.

"Balthier?"

She tried again, louder this time. That's when she heard it, a choked gasp. Her heart skipped a beat with hope. He was alive! She ran as fast as she could to wherever he was. The gasps and chokes got louder and louder as she approached him. What ever it was, she'd help him, no matter how badly he'd been hurt, she'd heal him. Finally she came across a figure in the fog. Stretched out on the ground was a body, was it the body of her partner? Her lover? From what she could see, the body couldn't breathe, their chest heaved with the effort. She was so close now she could feel the heat of life next to her through the mist. The smell was horrible, Fran held her breath, she couldn't take any more of that smell. It was like something was rotting in her nose.

The viera took one more step before she nearly tripped over the body. She gasped in fright and the fog slowly began to uncover the mystery of the body. Bile rose in her throat at the sight before her. She choked,

"Balthier..."

Tears threatened to fall from her sharp eyes. Before her lay the body of the sky-pirate Balthier, but he was barely recognisable. It seemed like a million poles and staves were stuck out from his chest, chunks of his beautiful body were ripped out and thrown across the floor. His bottom half had been severed off and was left to rot next to him. One of his captivating eyes had been taken from him and the skin of his right cheek had been torn off along with his right arm which was left scattered along the ground. She couldn't help it, bile erupted from her next to Balthier. The tears fell like a waterfall, unstoppable but she remained silent.

Fran cast Renew over and over again the blind hope that it would work, that it would heal Balthier and they could be together again. It was to no avail, no amount of spells and magicks could save Balthier. That thought crushed Fran's now frail heart.

"Fran...? I knew... It would be... You..."

He coughed up copious amounts of blood. How was he still alive? How was he able to talk? There was a sword lodged in his neck! Fran's long fingers caressed the good half of his face and looked at him tenderly although it hurt. So much blood everywhere...

"Of course,"

She smiled. Fran rarely smiled, she only ever smiled when she was alone with Balthier, just like now. They were alone in the endless fog. She wasn't ready for this, she couldn't let him go, not now. He was still so young. Barely thirty in hume years... The sky-pirate gagged some more,

"I'm sorry I... Couldn't... Protect you..."

Fran hiccuped, she was falling apart. How as she going to cope without Balthier, her other half? She smiled despite it all, she didn't need protecting, she had told him that many a time.

"It's OK, rest now Balthier."

She told him softly in a whisper, her hand painted red with his blood where she had been softly caressing him. He smiled at her, it was a terrifying yet heart-warming sight. She leaned in closer feeling his cold breath got shorter.

"I'll see you in the next act..."

She kissed his scarred and bloody forehead, tears falling onto his face. Then the notorious sky-pirate Balthier died. Fran cried as quietly as she could, veira etiquette still strong within her even at the most heart breaking of times. With all her might she reached into what was left of Balthier's shirt and pulled out a expensive yet simple necklace which had been ruined by remnants of dirt and blood. She slowly put it around her neck and fastened it at the back. Then Fran took a deep breath. She turned away from the lifeless corpse of her partner to vomit again. This was horrendous, how could this happen? Fran felt so weak, like she couldn't stand up, like she couldn't carry on. But she slowly and shakily rose to her feet. Wiping the tears from her blood-shot eyes she began to walk away, long white hair swaying behind her.

She would find the beast that did this and end it's life, even if that meant the end of hers.

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><p><em>TBC? Maybe... Thanks for reading.<em>


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